Edda stood before the council of ten. The high echelon of the Remu. They sat in a crescent around her, a marble dais curved to serve as both a table and seat for the ten. The ten who decided the path the Remu will traverse. The ten who chose what to do and what not to do. The ten who'd taken profound interest in her to the point of elevating her status to that of a Knight from a Spy. Hence why she was adorned in bronze colored armor, the pauldrons were uncomfortable, sharp on either end, rubbing at the skin of her neck. The weight of the armor at first dragged her, but now she was becoming accustomed to it as she worked her body to better handle the weight.

A Knight. She still couldn't believe it. But the news she'd brought as a Spy warranted her the promotion. First the capture of her and her partner Ingah by Vayin Vigon. Ingah's death, the Nula Anyl which she'd survived by the aid of Ishar. And the events upon the Ganidan plain where the Talisi stood ground against Binoria's might, where she had been the only Remu upon the field of battle. The information that poured out of her was gobbled by the Council, all of them eager to hear the retelling of the tale time and time again. They elevated her from Spy to Knight. They gave her land and status. And they also hinted at her place among the Council one day, if she continued to serve the interests of Remu. She imagined herself among them, with their aging faces and brown robes. Fingers bereft of rings and necks free of jewelry for the High echelon frowned on opulence.

She held her helm in her left hand and stood at attention before the Council. Wondering whether they wished to hear a retelling of her first account.

Councilman Yobra motioned to her. "Edda, you beautiful, beautiful woman. You remind me of my second wife, just as bright eyed and full of hope as you are now. But that strong will of steel. Aaaah! It reminds me of my first wife. Such fire and ferocity —"

Councilwoman Belinda cut Councilman Yobra short. "Yobra, her purpose here isn't to vie for the position of your third wife."

"Yes." Councilman Stivo said. He only ever said that one word.

"We are here," Councilman Yobra continued, unperturbed. "To address an issue that we have had time to ponder on and have arrived at a decision, Edda."

"I fail to see my importance in said issue." Edda said. Playing out the Court lingo.

"Nonsense." Councilman Kemboi said while running a hand across his bald pate. "You are pivotal! Pivotal I say! Pivotal!"

"Yes." Councilman Stivo intoned.

"Listen here, Edda." Councilwoman Roda chimed in while tucking a loose strand of curly sand peppered hair behind her ear. "We are planning war. Now, darling, don't stand with your mouth ajar like that, it's very unlady like. Yes, shut it, yes. Now, we are going to war against Binoria. They are without an army, a woman leads them now and she's not versed in war. Not as we are. Not as we have learnt from those who came before her. They are at their weakest."

"According to you, three Gods have picked champions." Councilwoman Fancy started. "Mairek from the Talisi, Rehny from Binoria and Ishar from the Kolotians. Rehny, a Binorian, surprisingly has been picked by a deity that isn't Meena. A Nyawe you said? Yet you claim he fought for the Talisi in the recent battle. Well then, darling. The Remu are yet to have a Champion of a God."

"We have dug deep into our ancient past as you advised us to, Edda." Councilman Mugo said while interlacing his pudgy fingers. "Through the help of Salt Seers and burnt parchment barely legible thanks to Binoria's crusades to eliminate our past and hence our identity. We have come up with the name of a Goddess we presume we worshipped in the times of old."

"The Goddess is called Alietsi." Councilman Nikclaus said. "It is said she slumbers beneath the Rankf Sea."

"Yes." Councilman Stivo, as usual.

"You have two options before you, Edda, you either find a way to wake the Goddess Alietsi and make her choose one of us as her champion. Quite the task to be honest. Or you can approach one of the already chosen Champions of the other Gods and have them march under our banner as we head to war against Binoria." Councilwoman Caro opined, her brown eyes piercing as she regarded Edda, daring her to refuse her duty as a Knight. Edda stood there, gawking at the Council of Ten

"What will it be, Edda?" Councilwoman Mercy's lilting voice broke her free of her reverie.

"I cannot do this." Edda started but at the shifting and creasing of brows in answer to her, she pressed on, lacing her words with as much humility as she could master. "I'm not saying I won't do this. It's just that, it's an impossible task. I do not know how to wake a Goddess. I don't know how to reach out to her beneath the Rankf Sea, I've never even been to the shore."

"Well, that's something we can remedy, we order you to go to the shore immediately after this." Councilwoman Caro commanded.

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Edda opened and closed her mouth, seeking words that might rescue her from her current predicament. "I don't know how to persuade the others to your cause. Mairek is in Central Talisi, within its high walls. A priced jewel of the Talisi, they will not lose sight of him. Rehny is herding pigs somewhere, I don't know where but he isn't available, he wants nothing to do with war. Ishar has disappeared, some say they saw him head into the desert, far East. I don't know how to reach them."

"Rehny seems like a viable option of the three, you can start there." Councilwoman Belinda opined in her even, calculated tone.

Edda sighed. "What you ask of me, it's—"

"You're our hope, Edda." Councilman Yobra said. "We believe in you, we believe you will bring us results as you did last time. There is none other whom we trust with such a task as this. And we promise you this, if you succeed, you shall have a place among us. The Ten will be Eleven."

All the nine nodded at this, except Councilman Stivo. It appeared the majority agreed on elevating her further before she availed herself to them today.

She nodded her assent and with a dismissal from Councilman Mugo, she turned on her heels and departed the presence of the Council.

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The clouds promised rain, dark and swollen with moisture. They were a sharp contrast to the Remu Court walls. White as bleached bones. Edda walked with an even pace, the Court Acolytes parted before her, the pitch of their voices dropping to hushed tones or silence within her presence. The Acolytes, she had once been a part of them, part of those who lived bright eyed with a zeal for life within the Remu Court. Dedicated to their specific courses: combat, command, language, linguistics, medicine, espionage... Too many to list but she knew them all, she'd studied them all. And the Knight was the most coveted position. A position a part of her didn't think she deserved.

Edda had been a protégé, some masters even argued she was a genius. She'd become the youngest spy ever out of Remu. Her first mission had been with Ingah, the legendary Black Ghost. The man who'd killed the Highlord of the Southlocal, the man she'd loved. Ingah, who'd represented hope, Ingah who'd been castrated before her eyes and killed. She stopped in her tracks.

Someone betrayed us. Their capture under the hands of the Binorians was something they didn't expect. It came out of the blue, their position within Binoria was given away, they were caught with their guard down but they'd still killed as many of those Binorian City Guards as they could.

"You're making the Acolytes stare." A deep voice said from behind her. She didn't need to turn to see who it was, the Knight Terrac's voice was distinguishable. She however turned her head to the side, taking note of the Acolytes who'd stopped and were gawking at her. That's when she became conscious of her hand on the pommel of her sword, a tight grip that made her knuckles pop. She let go of the sword and turned.

"Sir, Terrac." She stressed the sir.

"Edda." Terrac said, leaving out her honorific. He didn't think she belonged among the Knights, he thought her elevation was a mockery of the Knight title. 'Surviving a war didn't mean you're worthy of your current position,' Terrac had said to Edda during her Knighting ceremony, 'What makes a Knight is what's inside, and you're hollow.'

Terrac smiled at her, the scars crisscrossing his face in a web of a mosaics made his smile look like a savage grin. "What did they tell you in there?"

"They told me to go see the sea, so as to swim to the deepest depth of the Rankf sea and awake a Goddess." Edda didn't bother hiding the truth. "They think I'm capable of great things."

"The Gods' return sparks a change in what combat is." Terrac said. He seemed saddened by this. "One line of Kings with the power of a Goddess held the realm under the boot for half a millennium. With more Gods in the fray, this changes things. The Binorians, Talisi and Kolotians have their champions, we need ours."

"How do you expect me to summon a Goddess?" Edda asked.

"By swimming to the depths of the Rankf Sea from what I hear." Terrac said.

Edda turned to walk away, then stopped in her tracks. She spoke without facing Terrac, "This is a ploy by one among the Council to see me dead. There's a traitor within the Remu court, one who isn't happy about my return," she paused. "Nor my elevation to a Knight."

"Yes." Terrac said. "I agree, there is a traitor, everybody knows this."

Edda faced him. "What do you mean?"

"We all knew there was a traitor and we only needed to know who they were. Come on, you are standing in a fortress that houses the smartest minds the Remu have to offer." He scratched at the stubble upon his chin. "The mission you were sent on with Ingah, it was a set up to catch the traitor, and catch him we did. Only three people knew of the mission, Councilman Yobra, the Master Kissit, and Councilman Stivo. The Master and Councilman Yobra suspected Councilman Stivo, hence why they included Stivo in the plan, to confirm their suspicions."

"But—" Edda started.

"Come now," Terrac cut her short. "Why isn't he dead? Why hasn't he been punished? Ask yourself, why is it he only ever says one word in Council. A Councilman's power is in his words. That's been stripped of him, so has his holdings, his family. All that he is has been reduced to one word, 'Yes.'"

Edda stared at Terrac. The mental, physical and emotional torture she'd endured in the dungeon. Weeks without seeing the sun, wondering if each day would be her last. Ingah's death. All of it because of Councilman Stivo and it was all summed up into one word. 'Yes.'

Edda turned on her heels and strode back into the Council chamber, she stepped past Terrac as if he wasn't even there. Her face was calm, serene even. The Acolytes weren't in the halls, she had all the time to think as she approached the doors leading to the Council Chamber. And only one thought ruled her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yobra reclined in his council seat, he wondered why it had to be made of stone. It was so bloody uncomfortable, gave him a bad back. The Council men and women conversed in hushed tones, pondering over another conundrum one of them had thought up. Councilman Stivo sat beside him.

"Are you an idiot?" Yobra asked.

"Yes." Councilman Stivo answered.

Yobra nodded with satisfaction. "It must pain you, to see her alive. A Knight at that, she must remind you of your failure, I guess that's why we keep summoning her. To show you that you failed, that whatever pleasure you took in serving Binoria was one of failure."

"Yes." Councilman Stivo said.

The doors to the Chamber barged open. In strode Edda, walking in a straight line towards where Yobra sat. The Council men and women gawked, silence blanketed the chamber. Yobra moved to speak but saw the look in Edda's eyes and held back his tongue. There was murder in them.

Edda climbed the dais, over the stone table directly before Councilman Stivo. The Councilman's eyes bulged in their sockets. A gauntleted hand lowered in a fist, smashing the Councilman's face. Stivo moved to exit his chair, ever sly, ever slippery like an eel.

Edda's sword was out of its scabbard and in the blink of an eye it was driven into Stivo, just below his left collar bone, hitting no vital organ. The Councilman let out a scream, Edda expertly grabbed his tongue between her index finger and thumb, she jerked free a dagger strapped from her waist. Councilman Stivo raised his hands, to beg, to plead, his life flashed before his eyes and Yobra knew that all he saw was tinged with failure.

Edda sliced Councilman Stivo's tongue and held the flabby red appendage for all to see. "Yes." She cried out. "Yes!" She screamed! The Councilman's head dropped, his chin resting on his chest. Blood flowed free of his mouth in crimson rivulets, staining his brown robes. "Yes is not enough, it does not mark the suffering nor the pain I have endured." Silence answered her statement. And beside the groaning Councilman Stivo, Yobra smiled.

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